A dangerous round of severe weather ramped up across the Plains Monday, bringing life-threatening storms, multiple reported tornadoes and intense supercells from Kansas and Nebraska into Missouri.

Forecasters issued numerous tornado warnings throughout the afternoon and evening, including several Particularly Dangerous Situation alerts and at least one rare tornado emergency. Flooding remained a major overnight concern as rounds of heavy rain continued behind the storms.

As the threat shifts East, survey teams are expected to assess storm damage Tuesday and determine the strength and paths of the tornadoes.

Below are our updates from throughout the day Monday:

(07:54 p.m. EDT) What To Look For The Rest Of The Night

From meteorologist Rob Shackelford:

The threat will continue for parts of the Central Plains through the overnight hours and shift east along with the cold front.

Here’s a rough timeline of what you can expect:

• By 11 p.m. EDT: Severe storms should stretch from northeastern Iowa to northern Iowa and eastern Kansas. Cities like Des Moines and Kansas City could see some storms around this time.
• By 2 a.m. EDT: Storms should be stretching from northern Oklahoma through central Missouri, eastern Iowa and even into Wisconsin.
• By 5 a.m. EDT: Severe storms could be stretching into central Oklahoma and southern Missouri. Oklahoma City could see storms around this time.

Looking ahead to Tuesday, the strongest threat of severe storms stretches from Texas to the interior Northeast. Fortunately the storms are not expected to be as severe, but the total population under some sort of storm threat is nearly 120 million.

(07:39 p.m. EDT) Nighttime Tornadoes Are Twice As Deadly

Recent studies show that fatalities of nighttime tornadoes have increased significantly over the years.

A big reason for the higher percentage is visibility. Unless a storm is lit by lightning, tornadoes are hard to see at night.

There are also fewer storm chasers and trained spotters who risk their lives at night.

Most importantly, people may have already fallen asleep for the night and are unaware that they are in the path of a tornado.

Please be careful tonight and have your notifications turned on if you are in any of the areas that could see severe weather.

(07:28 p.m. EDT) New Tornado Watch Issued For Kansas And Missouri

From meteorologist Rob Shackelford:

A new tornado watch has been issued for part of east-central Kansas and west-central Missouri until 1 a.m. local time.

The main threats are a couple of intense tornadoes, winds up to 75 mph and hail two inches in diameter.

There are about 3.5 million people under this tornado watch, including Kansas City.

(07:10 p.m. EDT) View From Above

Satellite imagery gives us a bird’s eye view of these severe storms rapidly bubbling up across parts of Kansas and Nebraska.

You can see the atmosphere becoming increasingly primed for severe weather.

(06:55 p.m. EDT) Tornado Hits Blue Rapids, Kansas

Photos circulating on social media show a tornado northeast of Blue Rapids, Kansas as storm reports pile up across the region.

Tornado sirens were also reportedly sounding in the area as the funnel cloud moved through.

(06:46 p.m. EDT) Supercell Leaving Nebraska

From meteorologist Rob Shackelford:

The supercell responsible for a tornado emergency and multiple tornado warnings with “Particularly Dangerous Situation”(PDS) tags is now leaving Nebraska and moving into Missouri.

The latest tornado warning with a PDS tag has been issued for Fairfax, Missouri. The locations in the path of this powerful and potentially dangerous tornado include Fairfax, Craig and Corning, as well as Interstate 29 between mile markers 88 and 99.

This is a very dangerous situation and shelter is strongly encouraged in these areas and along the storm’s path. The storm is moving to the northeast at 50 mph.

(06:36 p.m. EDT) Types of Tornado Warnings

Given that recent tornado emergency, let’s remind you what the different types of warnings can mean:

• Radar Indicated Tornado Warning: No observed or confirmed tornado but still very dangerous situation
• Radar Confirmed Tornado: Radar has confirmed a tornado, usually with a debris signature
• Spotter Confirmed Tornado: Trained spotted has eyes on an actual tornado on the ground
• Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Confirmed Tornado: Elevated version of a tornado warning that warns of a potential loss of life for a particular storm.
• Tornado Emergency: Tornado warning with “a severe threat to human life and catastrophic damage from an imminent or ongoing tornado"

(06:22 p.m. EDT) Powerful Tornado Now Near Falls City, Nebraska

From meteorologist Rob Shackelford:

The powerful and life threatening tornado that brought a tornado emergency to Pawnee City continues its path in a general eastward direction, now located near Verdon.

While the warning has lost the emergency tag, it is still a powerful tornado and this is a “Particularly Dangerous Situation."

A separate tornado has been observed in Blue Rapids, Kansas, moving northeast at 40 mph.

(06:01 p.m. EDT) Tornado Emergency Issued Near Pawnee City

From meteorologist Rob Shackelford:

A confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado was located in southeastern Nebraska near Pawnee City.

This is the strongest tornado that has occurred tonight, and the tornado warning has a message stating that this is a tornado emergency.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning, saying “This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. TAKE COVER NOW!”

They also warned that flying debris may be deadly to those caught without shelter, mobile homes will be destroyed, considerable damage to homes, businesses, and vehicles is likely and complete destruction is possible.

The storm is moving eastward at 40 miles per hour and is approaching:

• Dawson around 5:05 p.m. CDT
• Verdon and Stella around 5:15 p.m. CDT
• Shubert around 5:20 p.m. CDT

(05:46 p.m. EDT) Two New Tornado Watches Issued In Central Plains

From meteorologist Rob Shackelford:

Two new tornado watches have been issued in the last hour.

The first was been issued for far northeast Kansas, southwestern Iowa, and northwestern Missouri, valid until 10 p.m. local time.

This alert calls for some intense tornadoes, gusts up to 80 mph and lime-sized hail.

The second watch was just issued for western Oklahoma and far northwestern Texas until midnight.

With this watch, a few intense tornadoes are possible as well as gusts to 75 mph and tennis-ball-sized hail.

(05:35 p.m. EDT) Two(?) Palmer Tornadoes

Did that possible Palmer, Kansas tornado give you déjà vu?

That may be because the town of Palmer, Nebraska saw a tornado just yesterday.

Check out our video of the powerful storm here.

The National Weather Service designated that event as a “particularly dangerous situation.”

(05:27 p.m. EDT) Back-To-Back Likely Tornadoes In Kansas

Storm chasers reported a tornado near Palmer, Kansas, as severe storms continue to fire across the Plains this evening.

Moments before, another tornado reportedly touched down in Kimeo. Early reports suggest it may have stayed away from homes and other structures.

(04:57 p.m. EDT) What's Going On In Chicago?

From meteorologist Rob Shackelford:

Did Chicago’s morning storm actually hurt afternoon and evening storm potential?

Long story short, yes!

Severe storms moved through the greater Chicagoland area, which brought a gust of 79 mph to Midway Airport, this morning.

These storms used a lot of the instability and energy available in the area, and the increased cloud cover prevented the development of more instability that usually comes during the hottest time of the day.

While it doesn’t reduce the amount of instability to zero, it did greatly reduce the chances of any more storms forming in the Chicago metro for the rest of this outbreak.

(04:35 p.m. EDT) Current List of Watches/Warnings

Here is the list of watches across the Central Plains and Midwest

• Tornado watch with “Particularly Dangerous Situation” (PDS) tag: Valid until 8 p.m. local time for northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska
• Tornado watch: valid until 10 p.m. local time for south-central Kansas.
• Severe thunderstorm watch: Valid until 6 p.m. local time for central Indiana and northwestern Ohio.
• Severe thunderstorm watch: Valid until 8 p.m. local time for eastern Michigan.
• Severe thunderstorm watch: Valid until 9 p.m. local time for northwest Ohio.

(04:19 p.m. EDT) It’s Not Just Tornadoes, Flood Threat Expected

From meteorologist Rob Shackelford:

The supercells that are capable of producing violent tornadoes also bring heavy downpours.

Northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska, the same areas that are under a tornado watch, also have been flagged by the National Weather Service as a region that could see torrential rainfall.

Eastern Kansas and western Missouri are under a level 3 of 4 threat of excessive rainfall from the Weather Prediction Center, covering 4 million people.

Rainfall rates of 2 inches per hour and totals potentially over 3 inches are not out of the question. That much rainfall in a short time could cause devastating flooding. While the area in the tweet above is the area of more immediate concern, there are actually 8 million people under flood watches from eastern Kansas to southwestern Indiana.

(03:57 p.m. EDT) Ominous Photos Out Of Michigan

One Michigan resident posted these snapshots of storms arriving this afternoon.

The area is currently under a severe thunderstorm warning.

(03:49 p.m. EDT) What To Know About Hail

From meteorologist Rob Shackelford:

Taking a break from all the tornado posts, here are five things to know about hail:

1. It’s made from solid ice
2. It’s formed in the updrafts of storms
3. Hail’s size is often described by comparisons to common objects (pea-sized, baseball-sized etc.)
4. Hail is most common in the Plains in spring… so, right now
5. Hailstones can cause significant damage, especially when they are larger and falling faster

For more, here’s our deep dive on everything you need to know about hail.

(03:22 p.m. EDT) Tornado Warning Issued In Kansas

A radar indicated tornado warning has been issued for a storm in central Kansas.

While there is no confirmed tornado at this time, one could form at any moment. The warning also calls for hail the size of ping pong balls.

Treat every warning like there is a tornado on the ground and take shelter immediately if you are in a tornado warned area.

(03:00 p.m. EDT) Areas That Could See EF3+ Tornadoes

From meteorologist Rob Shackelford:

The Storm Prediction Center has warned that EF3+ tornadoes are possible from central Kansas to southwestern Iowa today.

Cities in this area include Wichita and Topeka.

This call for EF3+ is part of a new intensity scale rolled out by the Storm Prediction Scale earlier this year.

(02:37 p.m. EDT) What’s A ‘Particularly Dangerous Situation’?

A “particularly dangerous situation,” also known as a PDS, is one of the strongest alerts the National Weather Service can issue before severe weather strikes. It means forecasters are especially concerned that the storm could produce an intense, long-track tornado.

Watches like the one just issued for parts of Kansas and Nebraska are relatively rare.

They’re only used when meteorologists believe the weather could quickly become life-threatening.

In other words: That PDS tag is meant to be taken very seriously.

For more on what different types of tornado watches and warnings actually mean for people on the ground, watch our video here.

(02:15 p.m. EDT) Particularly Dangerous Tornado Watch Issued

From meteorologist Rob Shackelford:

The first tornado watch has been issued for parts of northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska until 8 P.M. CDT.

This watch has a particularly dangerous situation tag, which means that several strong tornadoes greater than EF2 are possible.

There are also threats of winds to 70 mph and apple-sized hail.